


Chasing Sunshine

by NikkiCross



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Feelings Realization, First Dates, Fluff, Happy Birthday Hinata!, Hinata's Special Language, M/M, No Beta, Pining, awkward boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2020-05-16 08:56:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19314862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NikkiCross/pseuds/NikkiCross
Summary: So what if Kenma couldn't help himself but to answer Hinata's phone calls. It didn't mean he liked him, right?





	Chasing Sunshine

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Birthday Hinata!!!!!!!!! I barely managed to squeak it in there before the day was over, but 3000 words of this has been sitting on my computer for months, so I might as well give it life. I honestly adore this pairing, so I hope you all get some enjoyment from it.  
> ~Nikki

Chasing Sunshine

 

Shouyou… Hinata. 

Something about him was just different. What, with his fierce, unending determination and his boundless energy and ever evolving skill.

Maybe it was just the fact that Kenma was unnervingly attracted to him.

Kenma Kozume had dealt with many things in his life, but emotions were something he was quick to avoid. They brought unnecessary problems and effort into his life, and Kenma would rather hide in bed all day than be forced to deal with stuff like that. That is, until Hinata.

It had started out with just simple text messages and, in Kenma’s opinion, terribly long phone calls. Hinata had an older phone, so he simply preferred to call rather than type everything out. Kenma, at first, had ignored many of them, but after hearing about Hinata’s displeasure throughout the entirety of training camp he decided it would simply be easier to answer the phone. It wasn’t as if a weekly phone call was going to kill him.

Well, weekly had turned into biweekly, and eventually, somehow, they managed to roll over into daily territory. Miraculously, Hinata’s constant stream of commentary never seemed any shorter than it had in the weekly phone calls. Where he got all these conversation topics, Kenma would never know. These phone calls had managed to work their way into his meticulously planned schedule, and yet Kenma hadn’t even noticed until the first time Hinata had forgotten to call him.

_ He’d been playing his 3Ds, phone sitting expectantly at his side. Kenma had learned that Hinata had a tendency to call between eight and nine in the evening, so he knew better than to be playing anything important at that time. When Kenma glanced at the clock, however, it was already twelve in the morning.Jesus, when had it gotten so late? Shutting his console, Kenma picked up his phone to make sure he hadn’t missed the call. His ringer was off, after all.  _

_ There wasn’t anything there, though. Hinata really had forgotten about him. That… hurt. Kenma was used to being ignored, sure, but Hinata, he was different. Tiny with a massive, all consuming presence. Pure, unadulterated sunshine all compacted into one single human being. And yet, somehow, Kenma had managed to catch his attention. Simple, boring, loner Kenma. The weird kid with the scary eyes. The freak. _

_ Hinata was different though; he didn’t see any of that. All he saw was Kenma for who he was, and that was something no one but Kuroo had ever done. Kenma didn’t want to lose that. Without even thinking, he typed out a simple message, _

**To: Shouyou**

Me:  _ You forgot to call _

* * *

 

That had marked the first time Kenma had ever made a move to initiate conversation between the two of them. Later, he would learn that Kageyama had yelled at Hinata after learning he was calling Kenma every night, telling him he was bothering the other setter and no one wanted to be harassed unnecessarily by the ginger.

Later, he would tell Hinata that he didn’t mind. It was fine, or whatever, and Hinata would take it to heart. He would never forget to call again.

“You wouldn’t believe it, Kenma,” Hinata’s voice rattled across the line. “We all thought the ball was done for, but Daichi managed to pick it up. But then, he dove for it again and  _ pwah!  _ He hit Tanaka face first and got really hurt. I thought he was going to die! He ended up having to sit out the rest of the match and even lost a tooth! Can you believe it? It’s a good thing we had Ennoshita ready to back us up though. He really held us together, and helped us figure out how to beat Takeru. You know what coach said? He said that his playing style was the most similar to the Tiny Giant’s he had ever seen! Can you believe it? I was no match for him in the air though… I guess I’ll have to keep getting stronger! With Kageyama on my side-”

Ah, there it was. Kenma was wondering when he would bring up the genius setter of Karasuno. He always managed to find his way into their conversations, and although Kenma would insist Kuroo was wrong until the end of time, he insisted that this feeling Kenma got every time Kageyama was brought up was jealousy. So Hinata’s best friend was a better setter than he was. What right did Kenma have to be jealous?

A lot, apparently, since Kuroo also insisted that his setting ability wasn’t what Kenma was jealous about. Kuroo always had this infuriating, knowing smirk on his face when he said it, and although Kenma wasn’t sure why it did, it pissed him off to no end. What did Kuroo know that he didn’t? He spent the rest of that day on Skyrim, attempting to complete every side quest. Who needed Kuroo’s advice anyway?

“-so what do you think, Kenma?” Hinata’s voice shot back into his conscious. He’d missed something.

“...uh, what?” he asked.

An aggravated huff came through the line. “Aren’t you listening? I  _ said  _ my mom has a doctors appointment in Tokyo next week on Thursday, and since I can’t be home with Natsu she’s taking us with her. I was wondering if you wanted to do something before your practice starts?”

He sounded so hopeful that it almost hurt. “There isn’t a lot of time between school and practice at Nekoma,” Kenma said.

“O-oh. Okay then. Sorry to bother you. I just really wanted to see you. We talk a lot, but never really face to face, you know?” Hinata finished with a wobbly laugh that sent a bolt of pain through Kenma’s heart. What the hell? What was that?

“...but it’s not like I haven’t been late to practice before.”

Wait. Had he just  _ agreed  _ to it? Oh, he was never going to hear the end of it from Kuroo. Kenma could practically feel Hinata brightening up on the other end.

“Really!? You’ll come see me? Oh man, now I’m pumped! We should go get dinner somewhere. Do you know any good places? I love barbeque, but I don’t really like sushi. Oh, but you really like sushi, don’t you? Uhhhh we could always eat American food. That always seems to have something for everyone. Or ramen. No one hates ramen. Except Kageyama. He seems to-”

“Shouyou,” Kenma cut off his tangent.

“Uh, yes?” he asked.

“I know somewhere we can go. It’s not super expensive, so it should be fine,” Kenma sighed. Kageyama again, huh?

“Oh really? Well then let’s go there. I hope Daichi isn’t too mad at me. We have Nationals coming up so I really shouldn’t miss practice. There’s nothing I can really do though, since I have to watch my little sister,” Hinata gasped. “Do you think I could practice with you guys? I bet no one would be mad at me if they heard I was working with your team. Kuroo showed me some really cool stuff last time, and I would love to have you set for me!”

Kenma blushed. God, what was it with Hinata and his honesty? He should tone it down, really, or someone was going to get the wrong message.

“I don’t think that’s allowed. You have to get permission to come on campus anyway, and I doubt they would give it to only you,” Kenma mumbled.

Hinata made a disappointed sound. “Aw man! That would have been so cool. You could have been all  _ whoosh!  _ and I could have gone  _ pow!  _ And the ball would go  _ bam!  _ And it would be so awesome.”

Blinking, Kenma simply answered, “Sorry, Shouyou.”

“It’s okay, because I still get to see you! Anyway, I have homework that I told Yachi I would at least try and do, so I better get started. I’ll talk to you tomorrow Kenma!” Hinata laughed.

Blushing furiously, Kenma responded, “Okay. Tomorrow then, Shouyou.”

The call was ended, but Kenma couldn’t get the sound of Hinata’s laughter out of his head. He felt like he had just run a marathon with the odd beating of his heart and the drastic increase in his breathing. His face still felt like it was on fire, and the image of Kuroo smirking popped into his head. Oh dear God, did he have a  _ crush  _ on  _ Hinata?  _

No. There was no way that was possible. Hinata was just a friend that he talked to on the phone willingly, thought about constantly, sometimes dreamed abo- Shit. He had a crush on one of the only friends he had ever made. Not only that, he was going to meet up with this newly established crush in eight days in lieu of going to practice. Oh, this was bad.

Maybe he could just cancel. Hinata would understand if Kenma simply said he needed to be at practice. Hinata practiced all the time. He would rather be at his school than in Tokyo anyway. 

The sound of Hinata’s shaky laughter hounded his mind, and Kenma realized there was no way he could cancel. It would break Hinata’s heart.  _ Shit. _

Okay. All he had to do was make it through tomorrow’s practice and then he could establish a plan of action. I mean, it couldn’t be that hard, could it?

.

.

.

Damnit, he was going to have to talk to Kuroo. He was never going to let this go.

* * *

 

“I have a crush on Shouyou,”

Kuroo spit his milk across the ground in front of him as Kenma seemed to think now of all times was the best opportunity to drop a bombshell like this.

“You… what?” He stammered elegantly.

“Have a crush. On Shouyou,” Kenma reiterated.

Blinking, Kuroo scrambled to get his thoughts together. “You  _ like  _ shrimpy? Like, as in  _ like  _ like?”

“Uh, yeah,” he replied. “You were the one who was teasing me about it last week. I thought you already knew?”

“Oh ho ho,” Kuroo puffed as he regained his confidence. “I was joking when I said that, but I will in fact take full responsibility for your realization. Your gratitude will be accepted in the form of free Pocky,” Smirking, Kuroo looked back across the roof they were situated on. Kenma didn’t like people, so he chose to sit up here rather than in the classroom, but for some reason, he liked one of the loudest and most vibrant people around. Opposites must really attract.

“He’s coming to Tokyo on Thursday. We’re supposed to meet up,” Kenma mumbled into his rice.

“To Tokyo? Shouldn’t he be in school?” Kuroo questioned. “And besides, when are you going to have time to meet him? You have class.”

Kuroo was met with silence as he slowly panned his vision back to the teen sitting next to him. “You’re going to ditch club, aren’t you?”

“...only the first half. Probably. We’re getting dinner, and I don’t think it should take that long, but knowing Shouyou he likes to talk. A lot,” Kenma finished near a whisper.

“Well I can’t say much about shrimpy,” Kuroo begins, “but I can say that you’ve been pretty talkative for someone who usually sits on his PSP the whole time. Or 3DS. Or phone. Or any handy device. Really Kenma, if you’re actually bringing it up, you must be pretty nervous,” He jabs Kenma in the side a few times but is, once again, only met with silence. “Oh shit. You’re actually nervous. Uhh, I don’t really know what to do about this.”

Shifting his eyes up to Kuroo’s Kenma hesitantly asks, “Is there anything I can do to make myself less anxious? Or maybe not like him like that? I just… I actually really like having this- this thing with Shouyou and I know I’m only going to ruin it like I do anything else social…”

Wincing, Kuroo is quick to reassure him. “Kenma, just because you’re uncomfortable around most people doesn’t mean that you ruin things. Besides, he’s put up with what I’m guessing are mostly one sided conversations on the phone for how many months now? Talking to him in person will be even easier because he can actually see you and be sure you’re paying attention. It’ll all work out. I’m sure of it.”

* * *

 

God. Hinata was going to be here.  _ Today.  _ Where had all his time gone? He’d spent the better part of last week hiding underneath his comforter just imagining all the things that could go wrong. That was the thing Kenma hated about anxiety. No matter what he did, it never went away. It wasn’t like being worried about something. That was a kind of tension that could eventually be resolved. With problems like Kenma’s, he just moved from one problem to the next. Hell, some of them weren’t even real problems.

Was it really already five? Class finally let out, and normally he would be headed towards his locker to eat the food he’d brought from home before practice, but not today. No, today he was headed towards the hospital to pick Hinata up from his mom and go have dinner. It was a good thing both places were close to the school.

Dragging his feet slightly, Kenma shuffled down the sidewalk staring intently at the ground. He was just so  _ scared _ . What if he messed this up and never talked to Hinata again? What if he spilled his drink, or chewed loudly, or did a million other things that could probably go wrong? God, he should just turn around now before-

“Kenma!” a bright voice called from in front of him. Head snapping up, Kenma took in the bright orange hair illuminated by the sun behind him while still noticing Hinata’s attire. For dressing casual, he sure seemed like he was dressed up. Maybe Hinata dressed like this all the time? For some reason Kenma got the feeling that he didn’t.

A warm body slammed into Kenma as he stood there, probably looking infinitely stupid gaping like he was.

“How are you? How was class? Did you have practice at all today? Are you- Oh crap! I totally forgot about the no touching rule! I’m so sorry,” Hinata launched himself off Kenma before he even had time to grasp what was really going on. There had been… a lot of questions. And Hinata had hugged him? Ugh, his brain really needed to catch up.

“It’s fine, I guess” he mumbled. “I’m uh, I’m okay. Are you ready to go?”

Hinata looked about ready to jump to the moon as he smiled at Kenma, and he blushed harder than he thought he ever had before while turning away to lead them. “It’s this way.”

“Oh, awesome!” Hinata crowed as he bounced his way up next to Kenma. “What are we getting? American? Sushi? If you say it’s good I’ll trust you!”

Yet another vibrant smile overtook Hinata’s face and Kenma was sure he was dying. There was no other reason for his heart to race like that. “It’s barbeque. You said you liked it when we first talked about your visit to Tokyo.”

Hinata gasped. “Really!? You remembered? Ah, now I’m even more excited than I was! I get to spend time with Kenma  _ and  _ have barbeque! Lucky!”

Hinata continued on his tangent as Kenma pulled at the cuffs on his uniform. He probably looked weird, walking next to someone his age without one. What if the waitress judged him? Or what if they got seated next to someone really loud? Maybe this wasn’t-

“Kenma?” Hinata asked, a wrinkle in his brow. “Are you okay? You seem upset. Is it because I grabbed you? I’m really sorry… I just got all excited about seeing you for the first time in a while and jumped on you. It won’t happen again, I promise. Please just, don’t hate me?” Hinata sniffed a little as Kenma’s head jerked to face him.

“Shouyou! I’m not mad at you,” Kenma reassured desperately, trying to recall how Kuroo dealt with him when he got like this. “I don’t hate you. I’m just a little tired is all. Long day. You don’t need to worry about it. I promise it’s nothing you did. Please don’t cry. Besides, we’re here,” He finished gesturing to the quaint little restaurant in front of them.

“O-oh really?” Hinata asked, voice shaking. “I guess we’ll just have to stay and eat then.”

Kenma could tell Hinata was trying to put on a front, but he didn’t know what to do. What had he done to make the younger man upset in the first place? Leave it to Kenma to screw it up in the first couple minutes.

“Look, I really don’t hate touching. I just don’t like it all the time. Kuroo is always touching me,” to demonstrate, he leaned forward and took Hinata’s hand with a little smile. “See? All good.”

Hinata suddenly went firetruck red as he looked down at their joined hands and giggled. “Yeah, okay. I’ll make sure it’s okay with you next time though.”

Smiling wider, Kenma nodded. “Sounds good. Let’s head in.”

He didn’t have to be looking at Hinata to know he was smiling again.

* * *

 

Okay, so maybe this wasn’t going to be as bad as he thought. So far, he had done most of the reassuring and Hinata seemed to be glowing. Kenma was keeping a close eye on the grill as he had a feeling Hinata would burn the place down unsupervised, but it was worth it to see the orange haired man so happy.

They were seated in the back right next to a large window pointing out towards the highway, and it made for a good place for Kenma to redirect his eyes when he got a little too much of Hinata’s radiance. This was actually kind of fun, come to think of it.

“-and then the ball went all  _ blam!  _ and Stingyshima shut him completely out! Can you believe he stopped Ushiwaka completely!? It was so cool. He took all of the spotlight off me for the match though. That bastard better know I’m taking it at Nationals.”

Kenma had heard this entire story several times now, but watching Hinata tell it in person was fascinating. His eyes shone with some kind of fiery determination that he had never seen outside of a match, and even with his arms waving around wildly, he just seemed so powerful. It was selfish, really, wanting to keep this all to himself. Oh well.

“That must have been really cool. Do you think you’re ready for Nationals, though? Your team, while it has put itself together nicely, still needs a lot of polishing; especially with your serves and receives. You can’t count on your libero for everything, you know,” Kenma had been watching this team grow from the beginning, and even though they were doing really well, there were still some glaring hole in their defense.

“Ugh I know,” Hinata grumbled. “Receives are just so hard and it’s not something I can learn overnight. Or, at least, that’s what Coach Ukai says. Besides, spikes are just so  _ pah!  _ When receives are only  _ blah.  _ Why would I want to be receiving it?”

“Don’t let your libero hear you say that. I don’t think he would appreciate it. And it’s not like you can spike it if the ball never makes it back up in the air. You have to receive to make a play, so arguably those are the most important part of the game,” Kenma argued and _holy crap_ when had it gotten so late? It was already dark outside, and although it got dark early around this time of year, it shouldn’t be this dark. “Ah Hinata? What time were you supposed to meet back with your mom?”

“Huh? Oh, at seven, why? I think we still have some ti-” Hinata glanced at his phone to find five missed calls and the time to be exactly 8:02pm. “Oh  _ crap!  _ My mom is going to kill me! Uh, how do I get back from here? Maybe if I sprint I can make it there before she going nuclear…”

“I’ll take you back. Let me go pay,” Kenma said rising.

“Oh, no! You don’t have to do that! I can get it-”

Shrugging Hinata off, Kenma rushed to pay the bill as he ushered the panicked man out of the restaurant. 

“Which way?” Hinata urged

Rolling his eyes, Kenma started walking back towards the hospital. “She is picking you up from the spot I met you, right?”

“Ah, yes,” he stammered. “Right around the same spot. You really don’t have to walk me all the way there, you know,” Hinata mumbled.

Deciding to ignore Hinata’s sudden shyness, Kenma sped up his pace a little to help ward off some of the orange haired teen’s anxiety. Though, if Kenma was looking to leave a good impression on Hinata’s mom, bringing her son back an hour late probably wasn’t the way to do it. 

They were only about a ten minute walk away, and going at the pace they were at Kenma figured they’d make it in five. Hinata kept trying to push it but was forced to fall back every time as he didn’t know where he was going. Kenma hesitated slightly before reaching for Hinata’s sleeve.

“Shouyou. Calm down.”

“Calm down? How am I supposed to calm down!?” Hinata cried. “My mom is going to be furious with me, and she might not let me go off on my own again after this. Then I wouldn’t be able to come visit again, and we would never get to go on another date!”

Kenma slowed to a stop.

“What did you say?” he whispered.

“Kenma!” Hinata shouted as he watched him freeze. “Why are you stopping? I’m already super late. My mom is going to kill me! Please, we need to keep-”

“Shouyou,” Kenma said, sharper this time. “What did you just say?”

“I  _ said  _ that we need to keep moving! I’m going to be late!” Hinata cried, turning to tug incessantly at Kenma’s arm.

“No,” Kenma interjected.”Before that. What did you say? About not being able to come again?”

Confused, Hinata shot him a desperate look. “What, about us not being able to go on a… date… oh.”

Hinata blushed heavily before looking away and starting to drop Kenma’s arm. He tried to take a step back before Kenma grabbed him.

“Shouyou. Did you think of this as a date?”

Uh, I-I mean I didn’t really not think, and then I did, but Noya told me it was, so then I kind of assumed, but then I wasn’t sure if it was, but then you took me to a nice restaurant, and I just got really caught up and  _ pleasedon’thatemeIswearIdidn’tmeantomakeyouuncomfortableand _ -” 

“Shouyou!” Kenma cried, cutting him off. “Did you want it to be a date?” he finished much softer.

“Please don’t hate me,” Hinata whispered.”

“I won’t,” Kenma reassured him.

“Then… then yeah. I really, really wanted it to be. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

“Shouyou?” Kenma asked in a volume reflecting Hinata’s own. 

“Yeah?” he murmured.

“Was it a good first date, then?” Kenma questioned with a smile.

“I swear I didn’t-  _ what _ ?” he screeched, making Kenma wince at their close proximity. 

“I asked,” he grumbled, “if it was a good first date.”

“I…” Hinata trailed off for a moment. “It was a great first date! Wonderful, even! I would love to do it again, oh, only this time maybe near my house! I know a really good ramen place, even if Bakayama hates ramen so I don’t get to eat there much-”

“We should probably get back. Your mom must be worried,” Kenma mumbled.

“Oh! You’re right! She’s going to kill me! Let’s go let’s go!” Hinata shoved him from behind before grabbing Kenma’s hand and lacing their fingers. He tugged harsly at his hand before breaking into a sprint, Kenma dragging along behind him.

“Where to next?” Hinata yelled.

“Straight ahead,” Kenma wheezed as he tried not to collapse at the insane speed Hinata had him running at. Sure, he stayed in decent shape, but that didn’t mean he all out sprinted, like, ever.

The next few blocks seemed to fly past as Kenma’s life flashed before his eyes, and as they dashed into the parking lot of the clinic, Hinata’s head swerved around before locking eyes with his obviously furious mom. Panicked, he dropped Kenma’s hand and launched himself at her, only to pause and make his way back to the doubled over setter.

“Hey um, Kenma?” Hinata asked hesitantly.

“Wha… what’s up, Shouyou?” Kenma gasped.

Waiting patiently for the other teen to straighten out, Hinata quietly built up his confidence.

“Just wanted to say thanks for having me,” Hinata paused. “And um, I hope we can do this again.”

Ramped up, Hinata snagged Kenma’s head between his hands and pulled him down to meet his lips. It certainly wasn’t the smoothest of kisses; their noses smashed somewhat and Hinata didn’t really know what he was doing, but at the same time, it was  _ electric.  _ Though it only lasted a few seconds, and it was nothing more than a chaste brushing of lips, Hinata felt warmth spread to the tips of his toes.

_ Yeah,  _ he thought.  _ I could get used to this. _


End file.
